As an outcome of the SPARC project under the Ministry of Education, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and Flinders University, Australia, are organising an “International Workshop on Unsettling Archaeology” from September 26 to 29, 2022. The workshop aims to “unsettle” the established archaeological practice and knit it into a public field of problem-solving to develop the field in innovative ways to integrate and engage indigenous and non-indigenous communities.
The four-day workshop, supported by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), is focused on five themes: 1) ‘Archaeology and Global Futures’, 2) ‘Archaeology and Sustainable Development Goals’, 3) ‘Archaeology and Indigenous Knowledge Systems’, 4) ‘Archaeology and Heritage’, and 5) ‘Archaeology and Wellbeing’.
Distinguished anthropologists and scholars from national and international organisations, including the Archaeological Survey of India, Indian Council of Historical Research, Martin Luther Christian University, Tamilnadu State Archaeology Department, Ghent University, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Indiana University - Purdue University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Thai Fine Arts Department, Charles Darwin University, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Cogstone Resource Development (California), among others, are going to participate in the workshop to discuss relevance and importance of archaeology in our everyday lives and how we can learn from and work for the indigenous communities in order to address their challenges and aspirations.
Dr Dorothy T Lippert, a Native American archaeologist from the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum, will deliver the inaugural lecture on ‘Repatriation is not a Metaphor’ on September 26 at 10:15 am. This will be preceded by a keynote address by Prof Larry J Zimmerman of Indiana University - Purdue University on ‘Archaeology: Tool to raise self respect and wellness’ and followed by a talk on ‘Developing an Interpretive Theoretical Agenda that Integrates Indigenous World Views’ by Prof Claire Smith and Gary Jackson of Flinders University.
Some of the other insightful presentations and sessions include ‘From Coal to Culture: Archaeological Investigations in “India’s Energy Capital” Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh and Sustainable Development in the Region’; ‘Nagas and Megaliths: A Knowledge System’; ‘Archaeology and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in India: Problems and Perspectives’; ‘Archaeology and Indigenous Water Management System’; ‘Heritage and Communities: Challenges for Archaeologists in South Asia’; ‘Beyond Decolonisation: Emancipating Indigenous Control of Research’, ‘Artisanal Salt Production among the Nagas’, among others.
